Wiki / Configuration Parameters

Specifies the maximum safe depth of the server's execution stack. The ideal setting for this parameter is the actual stack size limit enforced by the kernel (as set by ulimit -s or local equivalent), less a safety margin of a megabyte or so. The safety margin is needed because the stack depth is not checked in every routine in the server, but only in key potentially-recursive routines. If this value is specified without units, it is taken as kilobytes. The default setting is two megabytes (2MB), which is conservatively small and unlikely to risk crashes. However, it might be too small to allow execution of complex functions. Only superusers and users with the appropriate SET privilege can change this setting. Setting max_stack_depth higher than the actual kernel limit will mean that a runaway recursive function can crash an individual backend process. On platforms where PostgreSQL can determine the kernel limit, the server will not allow this variable to be set to an unsafe value. However, not all platforms provide the information, so caution is recommended in selecting a value.

English manual coverage begins with PostgreSQL 7.4. Source history and runtime observations have their own recorded version boundaries.

boot val

100

category

Resource Usage / Memory

context

superuser

documented

true

enumvals

Unknown

extra desc

Unknown

lang

en

max val

2147483647

metadata version

18

min val

100

name

max_stack_depth

short desc

Sets the maximum stack depth, in kilobytes.

source

pg-settings-source-snapshot

unit

kB

vartype

integer